Modal parameter identification and vibration based damage detection of a multiple cracked cantilever beam

This paper presents a detailed investigation on the modal parameter identification and vibration based damage detection of a multiple cracked cantilever beam with hollow circular cross-section. To consider multiple crack effects, a cantilever beam including cracks is considered for six damage scenarios. Finite element models are constituted in ANSYS software for numerical solutions. The results are validated by experimental measurements. Ambient vibration tests are performed to extract the dynamic characteristics using Enhanced Frequency Domain Decomposition (EFDD) and Stochastic Subspace Identification (SSI) methods. Calculated and measured natural frequencies and mode shapes for undamaged and damaged beams are compared with each other. Automated model updating is carried out using the modal sensitivity method based on Bayesian parameter estimation to minimize the differences for damage detection. In addition, modal assurance criterion (MAC) and coordinated modal assurance criterion (COMAC) factors are obtained from the mode shapes and two set of measurements to establish the correlation between the measured and calculated values for damage location identification.